2016 Lakefront Marathon Training Plan
Well it's been a week off since the last training cycle ended with the culmination of the Wisconsin Marathon. Overall, the training cycle and marathon itself were successful. But, now it's time to focus ahead and look at the next phase of the training plan. When I mapped out my progress over a year ago it was with the goal to make it to a BQ level (sub-3 hr) by Fall 2017. I felt to meet that I needed to hit sub 4 in Fall 2015, Sub 3:30 in Spring 2016, and Sub 3:15 in Fall 2016. So here we are after meeting the first two thresholds we come to meeting a sub 3:15 in Fall.
I've chosen to run the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon. Originally, the plan was to run Chicago, but financially it didn't make sense this year. I ran Lakefront last year and enjoyed almost everything about it. Obviously having ideal conditions last year helped color my feelings on the race, but overall it's a perfect time of year, slightly downhill course, and mid-size race (about 4,000 marathoners). It's essentially everything I'm looking for. So without further ado, let's look at the most aggressive training plan I've ever put together.
Training Paces
As always I feel that choosing the right training paces is absolutely key in making sure you reap all the benefits of the workouts, but at the same time minimizing your risk of injury. I choose to train at where I am, not necessarily where I want to be. I choose this method because it allows for gains through my training while minimizing the risk. If I trained faster than I could reap more benefits but I'd also increase my chance for injury to a much higher rate. I could train slower and reduce my injury risk even lower, but that would in turn also reduce my benefits. The key is how to choose paces for my current fitness level. In the past, I've always run what I call a fitness test race about 5-6 weeks prior to my event at about half the distance. This would be a gauge not only for the upcoming race, but also for where my training paces might be most appropriate for the next training cycle. Well, I didn't run a fitness test race this past cycle. My other options are:
1) What I felt comfortable at during training
2) My last race results
3) Some other mixture of comfortable and race results
1) During training I was comfortable at 7:42 for what I believed to be equivalent to a marathon effort. So before the WI Marathon I knew that whatever my time was from the race my new minimum would be a 7:42 MP.
2) My WI Marathon race results ended up being 3:28:35 (7:58 min/mile).
3) The big caveat to my marathon results I believe was the headwind from mile 19-26. So, I've decided that the results from mile 1-19 are most representative of my current fitness level for a marathon. Thus, my training paces will be based on a 7:33 marathon pace or a marathon time goal of 3:17:49.
I plugged 7:33 into my training paces calculator and received the following training paces.
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I choose the multiplier line of 3:15 because that's the closest line to my time goal. Then I inputted my marathon tempo, and it spits out my training paces from my easy paces to my speed paces.
Training Plan
Once I have my paces, then it's a matter of figuring out what to do on each day from now until the marathon. The goals of developing the training plan remain the same as before. Even though this will be my most aggressive training plan, it still follows my rules.
1) 80% Easy and 20% Hard. Hard is defined as anything at Marathon Pace or faster.
2) Periodization. Spend about 7-8 weeks in any phase before moving on to the next. This is the point where you've maximized gains in that phase and continuing to do the same workouts wont be as helpful.
3) Keep the longest run's mileage to 30% or less of the week's total mileage
All of these are done in an effort to keep the training plan balanced. Balance the mileage throughout the week. Balance the amount of easy work and hard work. Balance when you're working on a specific muscle system.
I've broken the plan into phases:
A) Recovery
B) Speed
C) Marathon Focused
Each phase serves a different purpose all in an effort to get me in the best shape possible for my marathon.
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The dates show the weeks. The number above hard is the weeks remaining until the Lakefront Marathon. The number in yellow is the total weekly mileage. The percentage in red is that percent of mileage from the week's longest run. Lastly, the easy and hard split shows the percentage breakdown.
So, as you know I'm currently taking two weeks off since the Wisconsin Marathon. I do this to allow my body to make a full recovery from the absolute beating it took in the last training cycle and race. After two weeks, I'll start training again (5/21/16). But I won't just jump right into the training plan. I still need another two weeks minimum of easy pacing to get my body back into training shape. Thus, I'll keep the workouts under 60 minutes for another two weeks. When I hit the week of 5/30/16, I'll start to add back in some "Something of Substance" (SOS) workouts. Mileage wise you can see I go from 10 to 34 to 43, but this isn't a concern because it's kept mostly easy and because my body is accustomed to mileage like this. There is no 10% added mileage rule when it comes to coming back right after a previous cycle.
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We move into the "Speed" section of the training plan the week of 6/6/16. I consider this the true start of the training. My goal for the first few weeks of the true training was to slowly add in the hard work and to increase the mileage in a 3-week stepwise. I also have a confounding factor of signing up for a local 10K (Hot2Trot) which will effect my training during the week of 6/13. Stepwise the mileage goes 43/48/49 and then 57/61/62. This stepwise pattern allows my body to acclimate to the higher mileage and then bump it up. Once I hit the high end of the training zone, I'll start to alternate between higher mileage and lower mileage to allow for recovery between high weeks. My goal in this section of the training plan is to slowly move all of my training runs to 90 minutes. I believe 90 minutes is that golden training time. The longest run before you don't fully recover before the next run the next day. Thus again, maximize benefits and reduce injury/recovery (notice a theme?). How the 90 minutes is reached varies by the day to keep the plan fun and interesting. I've bumped up my Tempo mileage by one mile from the last training cycle, and I've bumped up my mileage at Speed from 3 miles to 4 miles. We also meet our first green run, which will be the only runs I take in carbohydrates during the actual run itself. All other runs will be done with water.
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As we hit July we start to push the boundaries past anything I've done before. The "Hyper Ladder" on 7/12 will be one of the most difficult workouts of the entire plan. The "Speed" phase ends at the beginning of August and moves into the more focused "Marathon Specific" training phase. We hit the maximum training time the week of 8/8 with a max of 2.5 hours. For these training paces, that puts me at 18 miles. I'm a strong believer that 2.5 hours is the threshold of diminishing returns for running. Running longer continues to increase benefits but at an even greater rate increases injury risk and time for recovery.
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The meat and potatoes zone of training occurs here with about 8-9 weeks prior to the marathon. Long training sessions and the % of hard/easy starts to dip down below the ideal levels. The plan peaks the week of 9/5.
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Yea, the Taper! The taper is about 10 days from marathon day and has a drop in mileage to about 42% of peak. The number of days running remains the same, but the intensity drops within that 10 day window because no more physical gains will be made in time for the event. Now the goal is to recover and maintain the fitness gained. And then, it'll be victory lap time again.
So here is a big summary:
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Along the way I'll set new PRs in training miles/time in a week and month. I'm excited. So let's talk goals!
Goals
Hot2Trot 10K
1) Finish in the top 5
2) Age group award (30-39) in top 3
3) Finish before my BIL who is running the 5K
4) Finish with a new PR
As always my goal is to do the best I can on that day. Whatever happens, happens. But these are the things I'm looking forward to. This is a lightly attended local event. It's literally like a few blocks from my house. Last year was the first 10K year and only had 50 people. I want to race close to someone and treat this like a real race to the finish. Thus, goals 1, 2, and 4. The interesting thing is this is a semi-double loop course and the 10K starts 15 minutes prior to the 5K. Which means that if I were to run a 43 minute 10K, then I'd finish with the 28 minute 5Kers. My BIL just so happens to run a 27-28 minute 5K, so my other goal is to see if I can beat him when he's running the other event. Kind of a neat twist.
Lakefront Marathon
1) Do my best
Whatever that comes out to I'm good with that.
So that's that. I love running. It's the only way I'd be able to get through a training plan like this. But I'm actually really excited because I enjoy running everyday. I'm interested to see what happens when I push my body to the limits.
<== couldn't find a princess on a bike
Thanks for playing!
(<------>Need my space) 
